Dick's Sporting Goods store in Arlington, Virginia , March 1, 2018. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press, Sipa via AP Images)
Sporting goods retailer "Dick's" is losing access to several popular gun manufacturers' products in a retaliatory strike, as the companies withdraw their business following a series of public moves by the popular store.
Dick's made some news last month when they first pulled from their shelves, and then destroyed, what they characterized as "assault-style" guns in their inventory.
That stunt followed their statement earlier this year at the time that they pulled the guns from the shelves that they were "committed" to several new gun controlobjectives.
- We will no longer sell assault-style rifles, also referred to as modern sporting rifles. We had already removed them from all DICK’S stores after the Sandy Hook massacre, but we will now remove them from sale at all 35 Field & Stream stores.
- We will no longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 years of age.
- We will no longer sell high capacity magazines.
- We never have and never will sell bump stocks that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly.
Now it has come out that the corporation hired D.C. lobbyists to push for stricter gun control legislation. Consequently, and rather reasonably, O.F. Mossberg & Sons Inc., the company that owns Mossberg guns, announced on Wednesday they would no longer be selling their products to the chain.
From the statement:
Effective immediately, O.F. Mossberg & Sons will not accept any future orders from Dick’s Sporting Goods or Field &Stream, and is in the process of evaluating current contractual agreements.“It has come to our attention that Dick’s Sporting Goods recently hired lobbyists on Capitol Hill to promote additional gun control.” said Iver Mossberg, Chief Executive Officer of O.F. Mossberg & Sons. “Make no mistake, Mossberg is a staunch supporter of the U.S. Constitution and our Second Amendment rights, and we fully disagree with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent anti-Second Amendment actions.”
For a little extra flame, they point customers to alternate sellers.
Consumers are urged to visit one of the thousands of pro-Second Amendment firearm retailers to make their purchases of Mossberg and Maverick® firearms. Firearm retailers can be found through the Mossberg Dealer Locator by visiting http://www.mossberg.com/dealers/.
As National Review notes, Mossberg is not alone.
That announcement came one day after MKS Supply, which manufactures Hi-Point firearms, cut ties with Dick’s.“We believe that refusing to sell long guns to adults under age 21, while many young adults in our military are not similarly restricted, is wrong. We believe that villainizing modern sporting rifles in response to pressure from uninformed, anti-gun voices is wrong,” MKS Supply president Charles Brown wrote in the Tuesday statement. “We believe that hiring lobbyists to oppose American citizens’ freedoms secured by the Second Amendment is wrong. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Field & Stream, in purportedly doing all of these things, have demonstrated that they do not share our values. [We’re] standing by the American people by refusing any further sales to Dick’s Sporting Goods & Field & Stream.”A third manufacturer, Springfield Armory, discontinued its relationship with Dick’s last week.
This is the definition of making sense. Dick's has taken an ideological stance to which they are entitled, and the manufacturers losing business over that stance have taken their product elsewhere. You can be sure the customers will, too.
The decision by game retailers and sporting goods manufacturers to play with their customers is a risky one. Yeti coolers found that out recently, too. No one can serve two masters, after all.
If your company has a political point of view and acts on it, that's its right. But it's also the right of the customer to go elsewhere. As this back and forth shakes out, we'll see which ones wagered wisely and which didn't.
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